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Happy Pi Day!

Posted by Miller Pads & Paper
on
March 14, 2018

Pi is a mathematical constant that is equal to the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It is in every circle that you see! It is hard to pinpoint its exact discoverer because it seems that ancient civilizations have been aware of the concept as early as 2550 BC! The Great Pyramid at Giza's perimeter has a ratio of 2 times Pi!

The earliest evidence that we can find in any text dates back to circa 1900 BC with the Egyptians and Babylonians, who estimated Pi to be roughly 3.125 and 3.16!

However, it was the Greek mathematician Archimedes who is considered to be the first person with an accurate record and estimate the true value of Pi. He accomplished this by finding the areas of two polygons. What is more impressive is that he used 96-sided polygons to conclude that Pi fell somewhere between 3.1408 and 3.14285.

Other lesser known attempts include a passage from the Bible and a Chinese Mathematician Zhu Chongzhi. The Chinese mathematician used a 12,288-sided polygon to come up with his approximation of 355/113!

Meanwhile, 1 Kings 7:23 states:

"Then Huram cast a great round basin, 15 feet across from rim to rim, called the Sea. It was 7.5 feet deep and about 45 feet in circumference."

In the last few decades, Pi Day has taken on a new life with math classes around the country celebrating with a variety of Pi related activities and challenges. The current record of counting out the number Pi rests with a Dell Supercomputer and Server. It has accurately calculated over 22 TRILLION digits of Pi and it took 105 days for the computer to calculate it!